CHARM ABOUT YOU

Here's what I managed for the 3rd Quarter Finish-A-Long over at Quilter in the Gap since my 3rd quarter post:



- Baby quilt. This is the Spinning Stars quilt that I finished recently - I'm so pleased with this one!



- Thread Bag. It feels like forever ago that I finished this and it's had a lot of use already, also love this!

- Retro Flowers... epic fail but one day my friends this will get done. I feel some major chain piecing coming on.


- cushion from the Fat Quarterly retreat. This is the Postcards From Paris cushion and this gets used (and thrown around) often.

- Project for the Fat Quarterly... I did a challenge and I finished it but haven't blogged about it and not sure if it's just one of those things that may never surface but at least it got done!

So 4/5 finishes and 3/5 projects to link up. I'm happy with that :)


You've got a little bit more time to enter the Kona giveaway, which ends tomorrow!! Quick, quick!

Keep reading for giveaways!
This week I was delighted to be able to test Rebecca of Making Rebecca Lynne's new pattern for infinity scarves. She has cleverly devised one pattern for 3 different versions - The Skinny, The Hood and The Mama. All gorgeous, simple to make and so stylish!! The beauty of these is there's so many options and they would look completely different depending on the fabric you chose.

Firstly I made The Skinny:


I used 3 fat quarters that I absolutely love but had no specific plans for. One was from the stale stash swap with the fabulous Danny and the other two are Swallow Skies in Storm and Little Bits in Honey from 'The Birds and The Bees' by Tula Pink.

the preggy belly shot!

The pattern is so well written and it took hardly any time at all so I went straight on to The Hood:

I had bought these two prints especially for this project because I love them so much! They are Spotted in the Crowd in Amelia from 'Field Study' by Anna Maria Horner and Marqueterie in Berry from 'Indie' by Pat Bravo. The pattern actually shows 6 different fabrics for this scarf (so easy with fat quarters!) but you can really adjust it to what you have or the fabrics you chose to work with.

I am so super happy with both of my scarves and they really make me smile when I wear them! I can not recommend this pattern enough, I absolutely give it 5 stars! A beginner could easily make these scarves and an accomplished sewer would find so many great options with it... I'm totally thinking some embroidery would make a nice addition too! You don't even need a sewing machine if you wanted to hand sew them. I used a machine for all the seams except the final closing, which I hand sewed using a ladder stitch.

Thank you so much for letting me test the pattern Rebecca! My wardrobe thanks you too - they add a great pop of colour :)

Here's some outtakes:



I will totally be making more of these and they will be great to give as Christmas presents.


Someone is going to be very lucky because Rebecca is giving away one of her patterns... head on over to Making Rebecca Lynne and enter to win! You can also get details of how to buy the pattern.
Please show her some love and support her amazing creativity.

And then don't forget to enter my Kona giveaway to win 4 fat quarters of Kona solids and a Kona colour card - kindly sponsored by Fluffy Sheep Quilting and open to everyone!




Linking up:

I have been quilting my Vintage Holiday QAL blocks and decided to do a really Christmassy theme for the quilting. Whenever I'm thinking about Christmas (which this year I can't seem to stop thinking about!) I find myself doodling holly. I went with it and after realising how easy it would be to free motion quilt the design, I started:




It's also a good way for me to practice doing circles (I'm really not good at them at all) and it felt good to do some fmq again. I've prepared the binding so I should have a finish to share soon. **EDIT - to see my finished Vintage Holiday, click here**



With so many projects on the go my husband has noticed the amount of fabric collecting all over the place, he recently told me the quilts are like Gremlins and keep multiplying! Then today he said our house was starting to look like 'AbaBrennans' in reference to the local 'Abakhan' fabric shop! Not sure whether the joke is funnier than the very fact he now knows what Abakhans is!!

Here's my 80s picture (thank you facebook friend for posting this one!)... I think I'm at a fancy dress party and apparently a sad clown... also pretty sure my mum made that costume!

**Enter my Kona giveaway from Fluffy Sheep Quilting! It's a great one!**
Sorry I can't reply to all the comments but it's fun hearing about your favourite fabrics.


Yesterday I got my Sublime Stitching book out and ironed some pretty designs, last night I thought I'd stitch one or two and ended up with this:



Nearly eight down and a few more to do! This is a project for the kids and I'm looking forward to finishing it. Stitching is so addictive and it's really easy to say just one more bit and then time has passed before you know it. Just need to make sure I don't do it before school pick up time or there'd be trouble!

If you have been hiding under a rock you might not have heard about the fabulous giveaway from Randi at Fresh Squeezed Fabrics... basically you pin the fabric you'd like to win then bribe encourage others to repin and if you get the same number of repins as the value of the fabric you have a chance to win it!! Get all the details here.


I don't pin so I'm not entering but best of luck to all that do!

I'm linking up with Craft Buds to share my craft book project.


Earlier this year it was our 5th wedding anniversary. As a surprise for my husband I made him this 'Johnny Cash quilt' with the lyrics of our wedding song on it.




I had started this quilt thinking I could just improv the letters but since I'd not been quilting long it was harder than I expected and each letter was taking me ages (I think I made 3!). After a little hunting around I discovered 'Word Play Quilts' by Tonya Ricucci and it all finally made sense:


I love her philosophy of unruly quilting and the great way she goes through the different ways of making letters and the fab projects she shows in the book.


Happily my husband loved it but to be honest it's on the small side so it now resides in my daughter's room and I have an excuse to make more quilts ;)

Fluffy Sheep Quilting is an online fabric shop offering fresh, modern fabric to today's quilter.  They are located in the west of Ireland but happily ship their parcels of fabric happiness anywhere in the world.  If you have a peek at the shop, you'll see both bolts and pre-cuts of Moda prints and Kona solids as well as goodies like Aurifil thread. I have shopped there and honestly can't say enough wonderful things about the shop and the service! Go on and have a look.  We'll wait for you...

Fluffy Sheep Quilting is the newest sponsor of Charm About You.  As the new kid, they would like to giveaway one of their newly stocked Kona Color Cards. Cindy recently very kindly helped me choose a Kona solid for a project but if you had one of these you'd easily be able to match the perfect solid yourself!



These are not just your plain old Color Cards, but they include the delicious new 26 colors offered by Kona.  Woo hoo!  The new colors are just amazing.


Of course, to go with that Kona Color Card, the winner will receive 4 Kona Solid FQs of the winner's choice.  Would you want these?


Or maybe a few of these?  

You have time to decide after leaving your comments!  You have four possible chances. To win this parcel of happiness, please: 

**THE GIVEAWAY IS NOW CLOSED!**

1. leave a comment below telling us what fabric collection at Fluffy Sheep Quilting is your favorite.

2. like the Fluffy Sheep Quilting facebook page or follow Fluffy Sheep Quilting on twitter, come back and leave a comment.

3. register to receive the Fluffy Sheep newsletter by going here and leaving your email address in the lower right hand corner of the home page, come back and leave a comment when you have.

4. As an optional additional entry be a follower of Charm About You and leave a comment saying you are!

Cindy is willing to ship internationally.  If you are a no-reply blogger (or aren't sure!), please be sure to include your email address in your comments. The winner will be chosen by random.org on Monday 1st October.

*check out the fabric giveaway at Fluffy Sheep Quilting*


Last night I made these fantastic tooth fairy cushions. My son has a couple of friends with birthdays coming up so I thought I'd get them both done at the same time! I was also running low on creativity so I just used the same fabrics for both. So happy with how they turned out though:


I used a pattern from Suzanne at Just Another Hang Up, called Manfred - she has so many cute creations! I love Give a Hoot too.

I've not done very much applique before and this was the first time using bondaweb. I really love the stuff!! Even peeling the paper off was so satisfying!! Suzanne has a great tip to do that easily in her post about how to applique.


Truth be told the birthday boys are a little young to be losing their teeth yet but I'll stick some sweets in the pocket (just to move things a long!!) and I'm sure they'll have fun playing with them anyway.


I've done another English Paper Pieced Rose Star block. I love the growing collection :



Thanks to everyone who offered suggestions about the low volume background idea. I think I'm going with it! I'm also going to use one fabric per shape. It's easier for me that way and will help the rose stars be the focus. I've only done a couple of the shapes but you kind of get the idea:


Ok that's possibly not giving you a good idea at all... I'll make some more eventually and show you again. Huge thanks to Erin for sending me some low volume charms and contributing to this quilt without knowing it :)


Yesterday was the best post day I've ever had!!

I was lucky enough to win a giveaway from Lisa at The Quilt Jam and I got a huge box full of goodies!


I'm thrilled with all of it and especially want to try that Dresden ruler, I do love Dresdens. I'm also working on a Christmas project and that fabric will fit in perfectly! She sent a lovely note and I'm so grateful for her generosity. Thank you so much Lisa :)

I also realised I had NO white thread (I have no black either - what kind of sewing person doesn't have white and black thread?!!) so this arrived just in time to make those tooth fairy cushions!




***Warning...  this part contains some VERY rude swear words / cursing. The offending item will appear below. If you are likely to be offended please stop reading now***




I  also got my gorgeous swap from the very talented Justine as part of the Sailor Mouth Swap. She was so kind to include an amazing array of gorgeous fabrics and the cutest pair of aeroplane safe scissors. I also love the notecard with the gummy bears :)


And the main event is this amazing cushion:


ADORE ADORE ADORE!!! It's brilliant and she used the most perfect fabrics. Also it's a really soft cushion - bonus! I near enough fell over when I opened it. To be honest I'd forgotten I should be expecting something (I've heard people say that about swaps and was like 'yeah right' but it didn't even occur to me!!). I really can't thank you enough Justine, especially since you got it done with so much going on. Thank you!



Obviously Justine has great taste in fabric (and isn't rude at all in real life!!) and she's going to be surrounded in a whole lot more of it since she took over ownership of Simply Solids. I can't wait to see what plans she has for the shop. It's undergoing a redesign open and looking awesome, be sure to go visit and support her! Huge congratulations Justine and thank you again!




Oh and if the rudeness didn't offend you and you'd be interested in joining the next round of the Sailor Mouth Swap keep an eye on Allegory's blog Sew Allegorical, there are plans underway





Linking up: